"Oh, Jesus....it was you Delgado...it was you...."

*****

Téa quickly moves to the front of the cell, staring at an obviously distraught Todd sitting on the cot, face in his hands.

"Todd, what are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry, oh God Téa, I'm sorry..." he mutters. Téa strains to hear him, pushing against the hard iron bars. Her heart starts beating faster as she hears his breathing quicken. She turns toward the guard, who is standing off to the side.

"Open the door and let me in there," she demands.

Todd quickly looks up. "NO!" he shouts towards the guard. Téa looks at him, surprised. But, she sees the obvious terror in his eyes as he glances around the cell, seemingly avoiding looking at her. She immediately recognizes his agitation, his fear....his fear of her getting caught in one of his rages, his panics....again. Defiantly, she sticks her chin out, and turns towards the guard.

"I am his attorney. Open the door and let me in," she says calmly, her tone implying she meant business.

Todd looks at the guard, who shrugs and begins walking towards the cell door. Shoving his tight fists in his pockets, he looks down. He was terrified to look at her. Afraid the memories would come back....afraid he would see her beautiful face in his head again, lifeless, bruised and battered, abandoned in a dark alley....terrified that she would be a mirage, and that lifeless body in the alley really was her.

Hearing the door close and lock behind her, Téa very slowly makes her way over to Todd on the cot. She can see and hear his breathing is still panicked. The thought briefly crosses her mind that he has managed once again to draw her back in with his pain. His suffering. Because her nervousness at seeing her long lost husband was immediately vanquished by his trauma. Her leftover resentment and hurt forgotten in the face of the torture he is now enduring. Simply unexplainable, how he manages to pull her to him. Once again tugging on the cord between them, the connection that, while shredded very thin, managed to remain unbroken even in all the months they had been apart.

"Todd?"

"Stay away, just stay away," he mumbles, still looking down.

"You called me."

"Oh God, I didn't mean it Téa...I'm so sorry...God not you...never you..." he chokes, his fast breathing now combined with hysterical sobs as the memory comes back to him fully. Her long brown hair matted with dried blood, splayed on the dirty pavement of the abandoned, damp alley. Fresh bruises covering her beautiful, still face. I finally did it...I destroyed you....

Téa stands directly in front of her, but he seems so lost in the memory that he doesn't even notice she's there. She's terrified for him, as well as confused. She looks out of the corner of her eye at the guard, making sure to keep her voice low, just in case he wanted to run back with his boss with something said between them in the cell. She kneels down in front of him slowly, wincing slightly as the cold cement floor comes in contact with her bare legs.

"Todd..." she whispers, praying she can break through whatever nightmare he is forcing himself to endure.

*****

Across town

Jamie Matthews stares blindly at the sandwich sitting in front of him. Made it himself. Had been making himself lunch since his mom took off 9 years ago. Left him with dear old Dad. Respectable DA to the outside world, god damn bastard to his own son.

A vision of his mother swims through his head. Her soft face, her beautiful smile. But she had grown so tired of it all, of his moods, of his women. Of everything. And she'd left. Jamie had been too young to make that decision. To just leave. And now he couldn't. Because his father had him by the balls. He needed his dad to cover for him, to screw some poor bastard who was completely innocent so Jamie could live the rest of his life in the free world. He was...indebted... to the abusive bastard.

Funny thing was, his crime had actually earned him a respite from Dad's fist. Parker, so proud of his son the rapist, the murderer. Showed the little bitch who was boss...gave her what she deserved...and didn't get caught.

Not yet anyway.

As it so often had in the past few days, Jamie feels the familiar taste of bile rise in his throat. Her face floating through his mind. He could still hear his father's lessons ripping through his drunk, angry brain. He could see broken body, which he so uncermoniously dumped in the alley.

He knocks the chair over as he stands up, rushing towards the sink. Her face is etched in his brain as he throws up, in disgust at himself and everything else, for the umpteenth time in days. Surprised he had anything left in him. Slightly sweating, he rests his forehead on the edge of the sink.

I'm so sorry...

*****

"Todd?" she whispers again.

"I'm sorry, God Delgado...I'm sorry," he repeats, almost mantra like. He lifts his head, his eyes searching the room wildly, but never falling on her. Téa's heart pounds in her chest as she watches him, either unwilling or unable to focus on her right in front of him. Tentatively she reaches up and takes his face in her hands.

"Todd, look at me."

His eyes immediately soften when her fingers make contact with his skin. After a moment, his eyes fall on her, and begin to focus.

"I didn't mean to," he whispers.

"Didn't mean to what?"

"Hurt you."

Téa swallows hard. "What are you talking about?"

For the first time since the moment she walked in the cell, Todd really seems to look at her. He blinks rapidly a few times, watching her closely.

"I don't ..I don't know," he mumbles, his eyes never leaving her face. Téa drops her hands from his face, and they fall onto his legs.

"You said..."it was you Delgado...", what did you mean?"

Remembering their surroundings, Todd looks away from her a second, glancing at the guard.

"The girl," he says quietly.

Téa looks confused. "The girl who was murdered?"

He nods, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Todd, I'm right here," she says comfortingly.

He looks at her, searching her face as if to make sure it was really her.

"I..I was blasted. I didn't remember much til I saw you...I ended up in that alley somehow...saw her...but it was you," he says, keeping his anxious voice low.

"You were drunk...you were just seeing things," she whispers. A thought suddenly occurs to Téa, causing her to feel sick.

"Todd...you were drunk..you don't remember what happened? You don't know if..." she looks down, not finishing her thought, but she doesn't need to. The panic stricken look on Todd's face tells her he knows exactly what she means.

"No...no I didn't ...I..I don't know. Damn! No, when I saw her, she was...she was already dead. I couldn't have. I couldn't have," he says quietly, trying to convince himself.

Téa nods, taking it in. She knows she has to get him to remember how he got to the alley, or find someone in the bar who can vouch for the time he left.

"Listen, they're waiting to talk to us. Just follow my lead, okay?"

He nods, his face pale. "They pulled me off her," he says.

"What?"

"The cops found me with her. Jesus, I probably touched her...my fingerprints are probably on her,...oh God," he mutters, putting his face in his hands. Téa swallows hard.

This was not going to be easy....